Mia Brooks, a mom in British Columbia whose son needs the drug to treat his seizures, calls the price increase “absurd,” adding to CBC that “there’s no way we can access that amount of money.”

When an infant is experiencing a seizure, doctors start with the drug Acthar, but because 50 percent of patients don’t respond to that, Synacthen Depot is the second choice for treatment.

Dr. Jacqueline French, the chief scientific officer for the Epilepsy Foundation, weighed in on the importance of these drugs for people living with epilepsy.

“Infantile spasms is a rare but devastating seizure condition, affecting the most vulnerable of our population, young babies,” French said in a statement to The Mighty. “When it is diagnosed, control of seizures is urgent. If seizures continue, there can be devastating consequences, including stunted cognitive, motor, and social development and lifelong epilepsy. Synacthen is one of a small number of drugs that can treat this devastating condition and, in Canada, is the one that is often used to stop the spasms. Availability of lifesaving drugs such as this is essential for our patients. Pharmaceutical companies are aware that in most cases, even extraordinary prices will be paid by insurers and governments when the price of not treating is so devastating. Babies with serious conditions should not be used by pharmaceutical companies as pawns to blackmail insurers.”

Mallinckrodt acquired pharma company Questcor in 2014, and Synacthen Depot was one of the products in the portfolio, the company said in a statement to CBC. It increased the price because of a change of manufacturing, but the company wouldn’t elaborate on why the change in manufacturing justifies the significant price increase.